From Latin 'materia' (wood, substance), from 'mater' (mother) — raw material as 'mother-stuff' from which all is made.
Physical substance in general, as distinct from mind and spirit; the substance of which a physical object is composed; a subject or situation under consideration; importance or significance.
From Old French 'matere' (subject, topic; substance), from Latin 'māteria' (substance from which something is made, wood, timber, building material), probably derived from 'māter' (mother), from PIE *méh₂tēr. The conceptual link is 'mother-stuff' — the generative substance from which things grow or are made, as a mother is the source from which children grow. Latin 'māteria' originally referred specifically to the hard wood of a tree
The word 'matter' literally means 'mother-stuff' — Latin 'māteria' (substance) derives from 'māter' (mother), because the Romans saw the raw material from which things are made as analogous to the mother from whom life grows. The word 'matrix' (womb, mold) comes from the same root, preserving the maternal metaphor directly.